African Chicken Stew is made with tomatoes that are cooked down until the taste is mellow. It is so flavorful and perfect served over hot fluffy rice!

We are pretty much excited about every recipe we put on here. But this recipe, this West African Chicken Stew recipe, this recipe right here has us so excited. It is so flavorful, and we can not wait to show you guys how we make it.

We just love our job. We love showing you that you can make mind-blowing, satisfying food in your kitchen.

We have a thing for tomato-based stews. In fact, growing up in Cameroon, what we often referred to as stew was a tomato-based dish with chicken, beef, or fish. So we ate different kinds of stew like this African Beef Stew and Tomato Fish Stew.

And we mostly had our stew with rice. Rice and Stew is an iconic dish in a lot of West and Central African countries. Add some Sweet Fried Plantains and you’re in for a real treat!

There’s just something about that rich red/orange tomato stew dancing over hot, fluffy rice. The combination of herbs and spices makes this stew so flavorful.

This African Chicken Stew was a recurring Christmas dish when we were growing up. It was the one dish we HAD to have every Christmas.

For the best and most authentic flavor and taste, use a whole organic hen, preferably gotten from an African or Asian market.

Ingredients For African Chicken Stew

Here is a run-down of the ingredients you need for African Chicken Stew. Be sure to check out the full recipe below for the specific measurements of each ingredient.

1. Chicken. Typically, whole “hard” chicken is used to make African chicken stew. The chicken used is tougher than conventional chicken in America. We get hard chicken from African or Asian stores. If regular American chicken is all you’ve got, you can still try this recipe. You’ll just have to cook it for a shorter time and with less water.

2. Tomatoes. Fresh ripe tomatoes are used for African chicken stew. The riper the tomatoes, the tastier the stew. Roma tomatoes are the perfect tomatoes to use here because they are not as acidic as other kinds of tomatoes.

Ingredients for African chicken stew on a chopping board

3. Oil. Vegetable oil or any neutral-tasting oil would work here.

4. Onions. Sauteeing onions in oil is the way most recipes like this start. And that makes a great flavor base!

5. Herbs. Herbs like basil, celery, and parsley add a lot of flavor to this stew.

6. Garlic and ginger. These are two of our favorite ingredients and for good reason. They really improve the taste of this stew.

7. White pepper. Because white pepper and chicken go so well together. But you could use black pepper in a pinch.

8. Maggi seasoning cubes. These are a hallmark of West African cuisine. But you could substitute them with chicken bouillon powder.

9. Salt. To bring out all the notable flavors.

10. Curry powder. This is an optional ingredient for us. The stew will taste great with or without it.

11. Tomato paste. This combines with fresh tomatoes to thicken the stew. Tomato paste can be replaced with double the quantity of tomato sauce.

We should note here that you could add habanero peppers, scotch bonnet peppers, or cayenne pepper to make the stew spicy. In fact, many Africans love it that way. However, we omit it because our kids can’t tolerate that level of heat yet.

How To Cook African Chicken Stew

Here is a rundown of how to make African chicken stew. This tomato-based stew is a great entry point into West African Cooking. Be sure to check out the full recipe below for more detailed directions.

1. Chop and Season Chicken: Chop chicken into desired pieces. Season the chicken pieces with a seasoning blend made of ginger, garlic, and herbs like parsley and basil. Add salt, Maggi, white pepper, and onions to the chicken.

2. Cook Chicken With Seasoning: Place the chicken in a large pot. Add water to the same level as the chicken and cook on medium heat until the chicken is cooked through.

3. Drain and Broil chicken: Drain the chicken from its stock and broil it in the oven until golden brown. Reserve the homemade chicken stock for later use.

4. Sauté Onions and Cook Tomatoes: Heat oil on medium high heat and sauté chopped onions. Add freshly blended tomatoes and cook until they shrink. Add tomato paste and cook.

5. Add Spices, Herbs and Chicken Stock: Add ginger, garlic, and herbs and cook to release their flavor. Add stock from the cooked chicken and curry powder. Add water to your desired thickness.

6. Add Chicken and Simmer Down: Add broiled chicken back to the pot and let it simmer in the stew. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

7. Serve Warm: Serve African Chicken Stew with white rice, sweet fried plantains, and a salad.

When cooking tomatoes in oil, constantly stir them with a wooden spoon, ensuring they separate from the bottom of the pot to prevent sticking.

Other ways

Here are some slight modifications you can make to this recipe:

Chicken Parts: Although we used a whole chicken for this recipe, you can use different parts like chicken thighs or drumsticks.
More Herbs: Add herbs like bay leaves or thyme when simmering the stew.
Bell Peppers: Add red bell pepper when blending the tomatoes
Cauliflower Rice: Serve the stew with cauliflower rice instead of white rice for a low-carb option.

For another hearty West African chicken stew made with natural peanut butter, check out our African Chicken Peanut Stew.

How it comes together

Yield: 8 servings
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 45 minutes
Total: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

10 cloves garlic, peeled
2 inches ginger root, peeled
6 sprigs parsley
4 sprigs basil
1 stem celery
5 pounds chicken (we used a whole chicken), about 2.5kg, see Note 1
1 large onion (chopped and divided into 3)
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper, divided
3 teaspoons Maggi seasoning cubes (4g), substitute with three teaspoons chicken bouillon powder (divided)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil, or any neutral tasting oil
6 large Roma tomatoes, or 8 medium ones (see Note 2)
6 oz tomato paste (170g), substitute with double the quantity of tomato sauce
1 teaspoon curry powder

Method

Chopped the peeled ginger root and place it in a blender. Rinse and chop the basil, parsley, and celery and add them to the blender. Add the garlic cloves and 1/3 of the chopped onion to the blender. Add a little water to help the blender then blend everything into a smooth paste.
If using a whole chicken, rinse thoroughly then wipe with paper towels. Cut the chicken into desired pieces and place it in a pot.
To the chicken, add the salt, 2 Maggi cubes or 2 teaspoons of chicken bouillon powder, a quarter teaspoon of white pepper and half of the seasoning blend. Add enough water to be at the same level as the chicken. Use a wooden spoon to mix everything together so all the ingredients get evenly distributed.
Set the chicken on high heat. Cover and bring to a boil. Once it starts to boil, reduce the heat down to medium and let it simmer until chicken is fully cooked. It takes about 30 to 45 minutes depending on the hardness of the chicken.
Using a slotted spoon remove the chicken from the stock and place on a baking sheet lined with a rack. Reserve the chicken stock.
Set oven to high broil. Place the chicken in the oven to broil on one side for about 8 minutes. Then remove the chicken, flip to the other side and let it broil for about 5 minutes.
Rinse the tomatoes, cut them in chunks and place them in a blender with another 1/3 of the chopped onion. Blend into a paste (no need to add water before blending),
Pour the one cup of oil into a large pot and let it heat up on high heat for about 3 minutes.
Add the remaining onion to the oil and quickly stir. Let it saute for about 1-2 minutes.
Add the tomato-onion blend to the oil and let it cook for about 10 minutes -20 minutes while you stir from time to time to prevent burning. Let it cook until the tomatoes significantly dehydrate and it's mostly just the tomatoes and oil left in the pot.
Add the tomato paste to the pot and let it cook while stirring continuously until the tomatoes completely dehydrate and there is just tomato and oil in the pot.
Add the remaining half of the green seasoning blend to the pot and stir so the flavors can bloom. Let it cook while you stir from time to time for 2-3 minutes.
Add in the reserved chicken stock, the curry powder, the remaining Maggi cube or 1 more teaspoon of chicken bouillon powder. Also add half to one cup of water depending on your preferred level of thickness. Stir everything to combine. Add the broiled chicken to the pot and stir to combine. Let everything simmer for 5 minutes so the chicken can marry the flavors in the stew. Turn off the heat and your African Chicken Stew is done!
Serve stew warm over hot fluffy rice with a side of sweet fried plantains if you like. Store stew in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or on the freezer for up to a month.